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Michael Koziczkowski 

The pioneer Polish settler of Portage County 


1 



The Polish People of Portage County 


By Albert Hart Sanford, M. A. 

n 

Professor in the State Normal School at Stevens Point 


[From Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1907] 





MADISON 

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN 

1908 





Portage County Poles 


Polish People of Portage 
County 


By Albert Hart Sanford, M. A. 

The present year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the ar¬ 
rival of the first Polish family in Portage County. Within 
the half-century their numbers have increased until the immi¬ 
grants with their descendants are now more than ten thous¬ 
and strong, constituting approximately one-third of the county’s 
total population. Two-thirds of the Poles in Portage County 
are farmers, varying in material condition from extreme pov¬ 
erty to affluence. On the whole they constitute a prosperous 
and substantial element of the population. The same may be 
said of the remaining one-third of their number, who dwell 
in Stevens Point. 

The present study includes: first, an investigation into the 
early history and later development of this foreign group; 
and, second, a description of conditions among them, and such 
comments upon Polish characteristics as relate to the social 
and economic problems involved in their progress towards 
complete Americanization. 

The first Poles who came to Portage County were Michael 
von Koziczkowski 1 and his family, consisting of his wife and 

i The name was thus written at first, but later the von was dropped. 
Concerning the ending ski, which occurs so frequently, Prof. Leo 
Weiner of Harvard University writes as follows: “Ski is an adjective 
ending (ska is feminine) denoting derivative from, origin, etc., and 
is a common family ending in all Slavic languages.” In many cases 

[ 259 ] 




Wisconsin Historical Society 

nine children; they were followed a year later by the three 
families of Adam Klesmit (or Kleinshmidt), John Zynda 
and Joseph Platta. No dissent from the opinion that these 
were the earliest immigrants has been encountered, and no 
records have been found to contradict it. As to the dates of 
their arrivals, tradition, even among those who then came as 
children with their parents, is at variance. The facts are, 
however, sufficiently settled by papers on file in the office 
of the clerk of the circuit court at Stevens Point, where the 
declaration of intention to become a citizen, made by Kozicz- 
kowski, states that he arrived in 1857. The papers of the 
others named give the date of their coming as 1858; and 
corroborating this evidence are the baptismal records of the 
Zynda family with the same year thereupon, furnished by 
the parish priest upon their departure for America, and still 
in their possession. The following year saw the arrival in 
Portage County of Christian Dzwonkowsky, Pranz Wojak, Cas- 

imir Lukaszewitz, Joseph Jazdzewski, - Green, and - 

Werochowski. Peter Xronopeski came either this year or the 
year before from Winona, Minnesota. 

The pioneer of this early group of immigrants, Xozicz- 
kowski, had been the owner of a small farm in the region of 
Dantzic, West Prussia. He realized that the economic future 
of his nine children was dark; and having read of America, 
sold his farm and started for the New World without know¬ 
ing his destination. Arrived in Chicago, he heard of cheap 
lands to be had on the upper Wisconsin River. In Milwau¬ 
kee * 2 he learned more, for there was at that time a movement 

this suffix is added to the name of a town, as, Modlinski, Grudziadzski, 
and Suwalski. In a list of heads of families belonging to the Polish 
church in Stevens Point (1901), about forty per cent had one of these 
two endings. 

2 Much uncertainty exists as to the beginnings of Polish settlement in 
Milwaukee. It is the opinion of John W. S. Tomkiewicz, author of “The 
Polanders in Wisconsin” in Wis. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1901, that 
there were no Poles in Wisconsin before 1857. F. H. Miller, in Park- 
man Club Pagers, x, 1896, asserts that “there had been a very gradual 

[ 260] 




Portage County Poles 

among the Germans to take up lands in Marathon County. 
Proceeding in this direction, Koziczkowski arrived at Stevens 
Point in September, 1857, with but fifty dollars in money. 
He left his family in Stevens Point while he went to Wausau 
to look at land, which proved unsatisfactory because too heavily 
wooded. 3 Returning, he spent the winter (1857-58) in 
Stevens Point and in the following summer worked for farm¬ 
ers a few miles east of the city. In the mean time he had 
written to friends at home, and the three families of Klesmit, 
Platta, and Zynda had found their way to Portage County and 
were employed in the same neighborhood. These first Polish 
settlers, and others who soon followed, endured great hard¬ 
ships. Since there was little demand for labor on the farms, 
the men were paid but fifty cents a day for cradling, and 
twenty-five cents a day for digging potatoes, or they were paid 
in kind, at the rate of one bushel of potatoes per day. The 
wife of one of these first-comers worked for a loaf of bread a 
day; and a sixteen-year-old girl hired out for fifteen dollars 
and board for a year. In such cases the compensation for 
labor seems to have been the same as that to which they had 
been accustomed in the Old World. Under these circum¬ 
stances only the bare necessities of life could be secured. Often 
their bread contained more of middlings than of flour; 4 and 
was more often made of rye than of wheat. Potatoes were 
much used and, in accordance with a European custom, gen- 

immigration since 1855,” the first Poles coming to Milwaukee about 
that year. No names or records are cited. The latter further states, 
“it was ten years [1865] before there was a church, and at that time 
there were only about thirty families.” Rev. Wenceslaus Kruszka, 
History a Polska w Ameryce (Milwaukee, 1905-07), vii, p. 125, states 
that there were Poles in Milwaukee as early as 1844, but that the 
first permanent settlers came there in 1860. 

s Describing conditions in Marathon County at this time, Kate Ev¬ 
erest Levi says: “It took ten years to break 40 acres of land, no 
harvest could be raised for the first three or four years, and until 
1861 wages were only fifty cents a day.” — Wis. Hist. Colls., xiv, p. 359. 

* One man worked a week in order to earn a sack of middlings for 
bread. 


[ 261 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

erally entered into the composition of their bread. A soup 
of milk and potatoes was often the sole constituent of a meal. 

The first lands secured by these settlers and other Poles 
who followed were pre-empted. Later, purchases were made 
of State lands at $1.00 and $1.25 an acre, and of lands from 
the Pox and Wisconsin Liver Improvement Company at prices 
ranging from $50 to $100 for forty acres. 5 After the enact¬ 
ment of the homestead law (1863), advantage was taken of 
its provisions. The location of the first Polish farmers, some 
ten miles northeast of Stevens Point, seems to have been de¬ 
termined by the fact that a German settler, Joseph Oesterle, 
chiefly engaged in hunting and trapping, induced Kozicz- 
kowski to secure land in his neighborhood. His location be¬ 
came the centre of what was probably the earliest Polish ag¬ 
ricultural community in Wisconsin, and one of the earliest in 
the United States. This community is known as Polonia, and 
its growth was influenced by conditions of soil, topography, 
and forests which will be discussed later. 

The majority of the early Polish immigrants to Portage 
County became fanners. Others settled in Stevens Point; 
among them, Jazdzewski (1859), Kuklinski (1860), Paul 
Lukaszewitz (1861), Polebietski (1862), and Leopold Kit- 
towski (1864). The last mentioned started from Kreis 
Konitz with his father and two brothers, Joseph and Thomas, 
in company with the families of John Boyer and Michael 
Mozuch. This group landed at Quebec where they remained 
for about two years, except Leopold Kittowski, who came 
direct to Stevens Point. They then moved to Detroit, where 
it is said there were then two or three Polish families. 6 Their 
next stopping place was Berlin, Wis., where twenty or thirty 

5 Wis. Hist. Colls., xi, pp. 409-415; Proceedings, 1899, p. 186. 

6 Henry M. Utley, Michigan as a Province, Territory, and State (New 
York, 1906), is authority for the statement that the first Poles came 
to Michigan in 1855, when some five or six families arrived in Detroit. 
In 1857 the first farming community was established at Parisville, 
Huron County. 


[ 262 ] 



Portage County Poles 

families of their nationality were settled. 7 Leopold Kittow- 
ski was a tailor by trade, earning in Germany from one to 
three dollars a week and his board. In America his wages 
averaged two dollars a day. 

Father Kruszka is authority for the statement that the first 
Poles came to Portage County upon the invitation of Rev. 
John Polak, a Roman Catholic priest, who was himself a 
Polander. 8 This statement cannot, however, be verified. On 
the contrary, the records of St. Stephen’s parish in Stevens 
Point make it certain that Father Polak’s pastorate in that 
city began in 1860 and ended in 1862. His was the only 
Roman Catholic church in Stevens Point at that time. One 
family, that of Matthew Recinski, is known to have been in¬ 
duced to make Portage County their destination by Father 
Polak, whom they met in Milwaukee; and the fact that a 
priest who could speak Polish was stationed there may, in¬ 
deed, have induced others to come. 9 The great majority of 
the early Polish immigrants, however, were influenced by the 

7 Before the arrival of the railroad in Stevens Point (1871), one of 
the most frequented routes from the East ran through Berlin. Polish 
families on their way to Portage County often stopped there, some to 
earn enough to go farther, others to remain permanently. Inquiries 
made by Miss Wanda Luzenski, a pupil in the Berlin High School,, 
make it certain that Poles settled in and about Berlin as early as 
1861; tradition makes the date as early as 1851, in the cases of two 
families, Szubynski and Osowski by name. 

*Historya Polska vo Ameryce, vii, pp. 21-23, where the date of the 
first Polish settlement in this region is given as 1855. “What called 
them to this region? * * * Was it chance, or was it that their 
fates drove them here? The Providence of God led them with the 
help of a priest — the natural leader of the people, by God’s will. 
This priest was John Polak * * * He was placed by Providence 

as a sign post for the first Polish pioneers of Wisconsin * * * The 

news that a Polish priest was in this region became a magnet for the 
Polish people, thirsty for ministration.” 

9 On the other hand it is asserted by persons who were acquainted 
with Father Polak that he did not like the location at Polonia, but 
that he had in mind plans for a Polish colony near the Waupaca 
lakes. His death interfered with the development of these plans. 

[263] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 


accounts of friends and relatives from whom they learned of 
cheap lands and better conditions than the Old World af¬ 
forded. In many instances the immigrants were assisted by 
those who preceded them. All of these early-comers seem, to 
have been subjects of Prussia. They came from the prov¬ 
inces of West and East Prussia and Posen. In West Prussia, 
Dantzic, Karthaus, Berent, and Konitz were centres from 
whose neighborhood they emigrated. 

The great majority of the Poles arriving in Portage County 
before 1870 had been farmers and laborers in the mother 
country. In numerous instances the men were foremen on 
estates; they had had comfortable incomes and their labor had 
not been as arduous as the tilling of their lands in this country 
proved. But they were ambitious and looked forward to bet¬ 
ter things. Others in the Old World had owned small farms, 
and at the same time were fathers of large families. It was 
inevitable that the greater number of their sons must become 
common laborers. Farm hands were paid from twenty-five 
dollars to thirty dollars a year and board. Common labor 
brought from two to ten silver groschen (five to twenty-five 
cents) per day. 10 The lot of the Polish tenant on a large es¬ 
tate in Prussia was hard. ITe had a small tract upon which 
he could raise his own produce; he must give some days’ ser¬ 
vice each year to the landlord; and he was paid, partly in kind, 
for other labor. Under these conditions it was impossible to 
save enough to purchase land or to enable the children to rise 
to a better station. * 11 Among the early immigrants were num- 

10 Note as a typical instance, Frank Kujawa, who in Prussia was a 
farm laborer receiving twelve dollars a year in addition to his board 
and clothes. Coming to America in 1863, in the Wisconsin pinery 
his wages were thirty-five dollars a month and board. 

11 Michael Landowski, a tenant, was furnished a house, hay for one 
cow, and peat for his fire. He was paid the equivalent of fifty cents 
a day for labor beyond what he was bound to give. He had accumu¬ 
lated property to the amount of two cows and a few pigs when he 
realized that it was a hopeless life, and came to America alone. In 
a few years he sent for his family. He and his oldest boy worked 

[ 264 ] 



Portage County Poles 

«rous artisans, but practically no tradesmen or professional 
men. 

The only other reason for emigration assigned by the group 
of Polish emigrants now under consideration, besides their de¬ 
sire for economic betterment, was the desire to escape army ser¬ 
vice. Some of them had seen service in the Austro-Prussian 
War and others anticipated a draft for the Pranco-Prussian 
War. 

The majority of those who came to Portage County before 
1870 seem to have come here directly from the old country; 
many came in sailing vessels by w r ay of Quebec, the voyage 
consuming three months or more. Some tarried in Canada 
while the War of Secession w T as in progress. These, and others 
who are said to have returned to Canada after first coming 
to Portage County, feared the draft for military service. 

While the wages of farm hands were very low in Portage 
County during the decade 1860-70, better wages were paid 
in the woods, on the river, and in the saw mills. Here, from 
fifteen dollars to twenty dollars, or even more, a month could 
be earned. These opportunities were embraced by large num¬ 
bers of the Poles, many of whom earned enough within a few 
years to buy one or more forties of land. Often such labor was 
the winter employment of the Polish farmer, and in other 
cases the hard work of clearing the land was left to the wife 
and children, while the husband earned wages in some kind 
of lumbering operation. 

Both in its beginnings and in its later development in this 

on railroad construction summers, cleared the farm, and cut logs in 
the winters. The wife and other children raised the crops. 

Michael Jelinski was a coachman on an estate in Prussia. He was 
furnished a house and feed for one cow. His pay included sixteen 
bushels of rye, two bushels each, of peas and barley three cubic meters 
of wood, and twenty-six (later thirty) thalers each year. Pie worked 
sixteen years and saved nothing. He would have been unable to 
meet the expense of partially supporting his sons while in the army; 
if they were to learn trades he would have had to apprentice them 
for three years and make a money payment. 

[ 265 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 


country or in Europe, the Polish immigration, was without or¬ 
ganization or direction. Families came singly or in groups* 
Some started without any more especial destination than 
u America.” The greater number, however, came to friends and 
relatives in Portage County. 

The growth of the farming community now known as Po- 
lonia was faster than that of the Polish colony in Stevens 
Point. The former was located in the vicinity of a group of 
Roman Catholic families, of German, Irish, and French de¬ 
scent, for whom a parish was created in 1858, and later a 
church was built. 

This was located at a cross roads now known as Poland Cor¬ 
ners, where Ellis post-office stood until superseded by the rural 
delivery system. Father Polak visited and served this parish 
during his pastorate in Stevens Point (1860-62). In 1863, 
when the number of Polish families in that vicinity had in¬ 
creased to twenty or thirty a separate Polish church was built.. 
The first Polish priest was Rev. Bonawentura Buczynski. 
During the pastorate of Rev. J. Dabrowski (1870-82) 12 an 
incident occurred that tested the vitality of this parish. The 
worthy priest was a man of convictions upon the subject of 
intemperance. Across the road from his church at Poland 
Corners stood several saloons, whose proprietors refused to close 
their doors on Sunday during the hours for service. The un¬ 
seemly carousing that prevailed at such times led the priest 
to have the church building removed to a height of land about 
one mile farther east. A faction of the congregation, led by 
the saloon-keepers, opposed this removal and temporarily sece¬ 
ded from the church. They erected a new building at Poland 
Corners and employed in succession two priests, whom they dis¬ 
covered later had been excommunicated. The outcome wa& 
the defeat of this faction and the condemnation by the bishop 

12 He later went to Detroit where he founded the Polish Roman 
Catholic Seminary. While at Polonia he set up the type for a church 
calendar (see facsimile of title page, post, p. 282) which was printed 
at the Stevens Point Journal press. But one issue of this calendar was 
made and only one copy is now knowm to exist. 

[266] 



Portage County Poles 

of their church, which is still standing unused. At present 
very few Polish families are adherents of the Roman Catholic 
church at the Corners, the greater number of that congregation 
being Germans. 

The settlement of Polonia is still the largest Polish com¬ 
munity in Portage County outside of Stevens Point. The 
parish now numbers three hundred and twenty families who wor¬ 
ship in a new brick church costing $70,000 and capable of 
seating two thousand persons. That this church is situated 
in the midst of a prosperous farming community is evidenced 
by the appearance of the congregation that gathers there on 
Sundays. Practically all who come any distance ride in top 
buggies and drive fine teams. Near the church are a paro¬ 
chial school accommodating two hundred children, and an 
orphanage where live forty-six boys. 

Soon after 1870 the beginnings of two other communities 
were made; one of these was about six miles south of 
Polonia where the earliest settlers, the Kubisiak, Werochoski, 
Sherfiniski, Dzwonkowski, and Makowski families came from 
the older Polish settlement in 1871. When, in 1884, there 
were thirty-five or forty families in this region, a parish was 
created, now known as Fancher. The Fancher parish contains 
at this time two hundred families, having increased by one 
hundred and thirty-five in the last eight years, under the ef¬ 
ficient work of the present pastor, Father Kubiszewski. A 
church representing, with its furniture, an investment of 
$42,000 and a parsonage costing $7,000 have been erected. 
The people here are very prosperous, generally owning their 
farms free from debt; while many have money at interest, 
and live in substantial brick houses. 

The other community is north of Stevens Point in the town 
of Hull. The earliest settlers here, Petrick, Sera, Rutta, 
Brill and Serafinski, do not seem to have had any connection 
with Polonia. 13 


ispetrick’s son asserts that his father came to Buffalo In 1857, 
which was as far west as his money would take him; that there were 

18 [ 267 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

At this place, the parish of Casimir was set off in 1871, a 
Polish priest being stationed there in 1875. This has now 
one hundred and sixty families. The land in this region being 
practically all occupied, no new families have been added 
within the last three years. 


• 

J A 

w 


\ 



STMS 

POINT 

* mm 

pill .WM, 


p 

jr/ 

f 












V 





Figure 1 

Portage County, showing location of Polish population in 1876 


By 1876, the Polish community in Stevens Point had in¬ 
creased to fifty families living for the most part in the fourth 
ward of the city, and a church was then erected costing $800. 

then no Poles in Buffalo; and that he later found work in Salamanca 
and Dunkirk, N. Y. While he was in the latter town, Theodore Rutta 
(now chairman of the town of Hull, Portage County) heard from 
him and came there. According to this account, such was the begin¬ 
ning of Polish settlement in these cities. Correspondence conducted 
by the writer has failed to reveal further facts in its history. 

[ 268 ] 























Portage County Poles 

Soon afterwards a $3,000 church was completed, and in 1887 a 
parochial school established. The parish roll of the Polish church 
contains the names of five hundred families, among whom 
some four hundred and fifty families are active supporters of the 
church and send three hundred and fifty pupils to the parish 
school. During the last ten years, while the Eev. Pescinski 
has been pastor, the number of his congregation has increased 
by one hundred families, due to the movement to the city 
from farms, and not to new arrivals from the old country. 

The Poles who settled west of Stevens Point, across the Wis¬ 
consin River, between 1870 and 1880, were constituted in 1883 
as the parish of Mill Creek, which now has one hundred fam¬ 
ilies. Many Poles worked in the mills in this region, and as 
the timber disappeared the owners induced them to buy cut¬ 
over lands. North of the Mill Creek settlement, Junction 
City became the centre of another parish created in 1881, that 
how includes 110 families, 95 of whom are Poles. It is in 
this region that the largest number of Russian Poles are found, 
but they are a small proportion of the entire community. 

From the above account it may be judged that immigration 
of the Poles to Portage County in the decade 1870 to 1880, 
and immediately thereafter, was more rapid than in the pre¬ 
ceding decade. It is a matter of common knowledge that Bis¬ 
marck’s Polish policy of 1871-73 caused an exodus of Poles 
from Prussia. Soldiers returning home from the Franco- 
Prussian war found taxes heavier than ever; they were indig¬ 
nant and flocked in great numbers to America. While the 
founding of the parishes in Portage County would seem to be 
the reflection of this movement, yet the writer has met few 
Poles who speak of religious or political oppression as causes 
for migration. This may be accounted for by the fact that 
the larger number of them belong to the peasant class and were 
generally uneducated. They would feel the harsh Prussian 
policy less keenly than the urban Poles; and, again, the latter 
would be much more apt to settle in cities. It may be, how¬ 
ever, that some of those with whom the writer has conversed 
concealed their religious or political reasons for migrating; 

[ 269 ] 


Wisconsin Historical Society 

either because it was difficult to express their ideas upon these 
subjects in English, or because they hesitated doing so, not 
knowing what might be the consequences. 

The migration in this period proceeded without organized 
effort of any kind. The writer has found traces of a plan 
for establishing a Polish state in the West, but the idea was 
vague and probably had little influence. No effort was nec¬ 
essary to induce the Poles to segregate; but economical forces 
determined that there should be many widely-scattered points 
of segregation. 

Search in the reports of the State Board of Immigration re¬ 
veals no evidence that any effort was put forth under their aus¬ 
pices to induce Polish immigration. The Wisconsin Central 
Railway, whose line transverses Portage County, has never dis¬ 
tributed printed matter relating to Polish settlers. Mr. K. 
Iv. Kennan of Milwaukee, who was agent for this road in 
Europe between 1880 and 1885, made no effort to induce 
Polish immigrants to come to America. 14 

i*Mr. Kennan writes: “At no time have I, so far as I am aware, 
induced any Polish emigrants to come to this country. The reason 
was, that I do not understand the Polish language. In June of 1880, 

I went to Europe on behalf of the Wisconsin Central Railroad for the 
purpose of inducing desirable German and Scandinavian emigrants 
to emigrate to Northern Wisconsin. I spent about three months 
travelling in Europe, interviewing American consuls and steamship 
agents, and finding what had been attempted heretofore so as to pro¬ 
ceed intelligently. I then opened an office in Copenhagen, so as to 
combine my efforts to procure the Scandinavians and the Germans 
to the best advantage. At the same time I had an office in Basle, 
Switzerland. I soon found that that was the more favorable point 
from which to operate. The German laws, as you are perhaps aware, 
do not permit any efforts to be made to induce immigration. The 
office in Basle was maintained for five years, and I advertised at one 
time in two thousand newspapers. I received and answered about 
twenty thousand letters, mostly in German, and sent out many hun¬ 
dred thousand circulars, the greater part being printed in German. 
As a result of this agitation, there were, as nearly as we can esti¬ 
mate, about 5000 people who came from Europe and settled along the 
line of the Wisconsin Central Railroad. I had a letter from Governor 

[370] 



Portage County Poles 

The National Polish Alliance has devoted its efforts chiefly” 
to fostering the Polish national spirit and to maintaining loy¬ 
alty to the church. It seems to have made no effort to encour¬ 
age immigration or to care for the immigrants. 

By the year 1894, farms had been taken up some distance 
northwest of Polonia. As there were sixty families in that 
region, a new parish was created in the town of Alban, where 
there are now one hundred and seventy-five families and a par¬ 
ochial school with sixty children in attendance. Comparatively 
few of these families are the descendants of the old Polish set¬ 
tlers ; the great majority came from the old country and from 
large cities. Here as elsewhere, the larger number are Ger¬ 
man Poles. 

South of the Wisconsin Biver, after it turns sharply west¬ 
ward near the village of Plover, is a level stretch of sandy soil. 
Here Poles began to settle about 1880. Some came from the 
old settlement at Polonia, where all hut the most hilly and 
stony farms had been taken up. In the region near Plover 
there were originally forests of jack pine, which, before the ad¬ 
vent of the Wisconsin Central Bailway (1871), had been used 
in the making of charcoal. When the timber had been taken 
the owners allowed the land to become delinquent, and the 
county board voted to sell it at ten dollars a forty. This was 
an opportunity which was at once seized by the young Polish 
farmers. In some instances American farmers had tried to 
make a living on these poor lands and had failed; some farms 
had actually been abandoned, but the Poles made this thin 
soil yield a surplus. The parish of Plover, created in 1896, 
has now ninety-six families, of whom all are Poles except three 

Smith, stating that I was authorized to represent the State and to 
give information as to its resources and advantages, which letter as¬ 
sisted me greatly. The result of my observation was that the most 
persuasive argument to induce immigration, is a letter from a per¬ 
son who is here and is pleased with the ‘Verhaltnisse’ in this State.” 
Mr. Kennan’s statement is of interest to students of German immigra¬ 
tion, and serves to emphasize, by contrast, the lack of similar induce¬ 
ments for Polish immigration. 


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Wisconsin Historical Society 

German ones. A parochial school is now being built, but the 

settlement is not growing, only four or five families having 
been added in as many years. 

In 1897 a new parish, Torun, was created directly north of 
Stevens Point. It now has ninety-six families, with a paro¬ 
chial school attended by sixty-nine children. 

It is noticeable that among the Poles who came to Portage 
County between 1870 and 1895, the proportion of those who 
came direct from the old country grew smaller; the majority 
had spent from one to ten years in the large cities, earning 
money with which to buy farms. In the early seventies rail¬ 
road construction was a frequent means of employment; lum¬ 
bering operations and the steel mills of Milwaukee and Chi¬ 
cago were also utilized, while unskilled day labor was resorted to 
by many. The number of families now moving into the par¬ 
ishes mentioned is small. The recent disturbances in Russia 
have had practically no effect upon the Portage County com¬ 
munities. 

Within the past fifteen years an interesting Polish commu¬ 
nity has grown up in the southern part of the county (town of 
Belmont), extending across the line into Waushara. The lo¬ 
cation of this settlement was determined by a few Polish fam¬ 
ilies that came here about 1890 from Berlin. Mr. J. J. Hef- 
fron, a real estate dealer in Stevens Point, acting through the 
Polish agent in Chicago, has sold land in this region to some 
one hundred and twenty-five Polish families. 15 In many cases 
Mr. Heffron has personally attended to the erection of their 
houses, and by giving liberal terms of purchase has assisted the 
newly established farmers to make a beginning. The agent in 
Chicago sometimes advertises for customers; but many are in¬ 
duced to come by their friends and relatives. The greatest 
number of these settlers have bought wild land, but a few have 
purchased farms that were already worked. The largest 

is This agent is now settling Poles on lands near Knowlton, Mar¬ 
athon County, and a similar enterprise is being carried on by a Polish 
real-estate dealer in Adams County. 

[ 272] 



Portage County Poles 

number come from Chicago, having lived there from one to 
ten years; since their immigration from the Old World, any 
time from five to twenty years ago. A few have come from 
the coal fields of Pennsylvania. A parish was created here in 
1896 and a new church to cost $10,000 is now being erected. 



Figure 2 

Portage County, showing location of Polish population in 1895 


Census statistics of the Poles in Portage County are not 
very satisfactory. In the census of 1850 the Poles are not 
mentioned among the foreign elements in Wisconsin. The fol¬ 
lowing statistics of foreign-born Poles are available: 


[ 273 ] 





















Wisconsin Historical Society 


Year 

Portage County 

Wisconsin 

United States 

I860 36 . 


417 

7,298 

14,436 

48,557 

147,440 

383,595 

1870. 


1,290 

1880. 


5,263 

17,660 

31,789 

1890. 

1900. 

2,070 

2,750 


The Wisconsin state census of 1875 does not distinguish 
nationalities; that of 1885 contains an estimate of 300 Poland- 
ers in Portage County—a number evidently too small. In 
1895 the nativity of 1095 is given as Polish, and in that of 
1905 the number is 2961. 

Any statistics concerning the countries in which Poles were 
born must be more or less inaccurate, since the obliteration of 
Poland from the map of Europe leads to confusion in the 
minds of census-takers. Only the census of 1900 and that of 
1905 undertake to distinguish among Poles born in Germany, 
Russia, and Austria. The results for Portage County are as 
follows: 


Year 

Germany 

Russia 

Austria 

Unknown 

Total 

1900. 

2,602 

98 

39 

11 

2,750 

1905. 

2,469 

169 

323 


2,961 


There is doubtless inaccuracy in the figures of the State cen¬ 
sus, the numbers for Russia and Austria being too large. The 
towns of Alban, Belmont, and Dewey are credited with no 
Poles born in Germany—a gross error. 

Ho statistics have been compiled showing the number of per- 

16 In this year, every state and territory in the Union, except 
Dakota Territory, is credited with some Poles. The following states 
and cities had the largest numbers: New York, 2296 (New York 
city, 1586); Texas, 783; California, 730; Wisconsin, 417; Missouri, 
339 (St. Louis, 184); Illinois, 341 (Chicago, 109); Ohio, 326 (Cincin¬ 
nati, 199). 


[ 274 ] 





























Portage County Poles 

sons of Polish descent in Portage County but an estimate may 
be made. Prom the census of 1900 we learn that the total for¬ 
eign born of all nationalities in Portage County was 7,309, 
while the native born of foreign parents was 14,241, or approxi¬ 
mately twice the former number. If this proportion bolds 



Figure 3 

Portage County, showing location of Polish population in 1903 


true of the Poles, then the total number of native born children 
of Polish parents was 8,250. Applying this method of calcu¬ 
lation to the figures of 1905, we have 8,883. But this takes no 
account of the children of native born Poles; nor does it allow 
for the birth rate among Poles being higher than that of any 
other nationality in Portage County. Probably 10,000 per- 

[ 275 ] 






















Wisconsin Historical Society 


sons of Polish descent is a low estimate for this county. 1 ' The 
number of Polish families residing in the county, reported by 
the priests of the ten parishes, is 1800. Multiplying this fig¬ 
ure by six, the probable average size of Polish families, we 
get as a result 10,800. As the total population of Portage 
County was 30,861 in 1905, the Poles constitute fully one- 
third of that number. 

The accompanying charts (see figures 1, 2, and 3) show the 
regions of Portage County that have been occupied by 
Polish farmers at the dates indicated. 18 In the shaded portions 
this nationality predominates to a marked degree; while a mix¬ 
ture of other nationalities is found on the edges of the regions 
shaded. The shading does not indicate that all of the land is 
actually under cultivation; much is held by non-resident own¬ 
ers, some of these being lumber companies and others specula¬ 
tors. There are also marsh and swamp areas. 

The intermixture of the Poles with farmers of other national- 
ties is so slight, that the former are virtually grouped into four 
distinct settlements. The largest occupies the northeastern 
part of the county and includes the parishes of Casimir, 
Torun, Polonia, Alban, and Pancher. The next in size is 
west of the Wisconsin River and includes the Junction City and 
Mill Creek parishes. Both of these groups border upon the 
Knowlton settlement in the southern part of Marathon County. 

it Kruszka’s estimate of 15,000 to 20,000 is much, too large. 

is The accompanying charts were constructed from county maps of 
1876 and 1903, and the plat-book of 1895, all of which show the 
names of real-estate owners in the towns. The peculiar forms of the 
Polish names constituted the sole basis of judgment as to nationality 
in most cases. This method may be sometimes at fault when Ger¬ 
man and Polish names are apt to be confused. The absence of other 
Slavonic peoples renders another possible source of confusion prac¬ 
tically unimportant. The original maps and plat-book do not show 
the ownership of the land with complete accuracy, since they are 
made from the tax rolls in the hands of town officers, which do not 
give changes in ownership as they should. However, considering 
these sources of error, the maps serve well enough the purpose. 


[ 276 ] 



Portage County Poles 

The Plover parish is an isolated group, as is also that of Heff- 
ron on the southern border of the county. 

The forces at work in determining the direction and extent 
of growth of these communities may be discovered by a com- 



Figure 4 

Portage County soil map. Dotted area represents clay loam; crosses, 
Amherst sandy loam; short, broken horizontal lines, Bancroft gravelly 
sandy loam; long broken horizontal lines, swamps; inclined broken 
lines, Marathom loam; blanks, Wisconsin River sand 

parison of these maps with that showing soil areas of Port¬ 
age County (see figure 4). 19 From such a comparison we 
find that Polish settlement has spread over three distinct soil 
areas. 

is From map of Portage County in Samuel Weidman, “Preliminary 
Report on the Soils and Agricultural Conditions of North Central Wis¬ 
consin,” Wisconsin Natural History and Geological Survey Bulletin, 
No. 11. [ 277 ] 






















Wisconsin Historical Society 


First, the original colony at Polonia had its seat upon the 
Amherst sandy loam and it is upon this soil that the greatest 
number of Poles have made their farms. This is the area of 
the terminal moraine, a region of “low steep hills and ridges,” 
in many places quite stony. The earliest farmers of Portage 
County, who were a mixture of Americans, Germans, and Irish, 
with a few French, sought the soil area, that of the Bancroft 
gravelly sandy loam, bordering this on the west. This is for 
the most part a level prairie, free from stones and easy of culti¬ 
vation. The lands of the moraine region are less inviting and 
more difficult to work, and were therefore cheaper. The Poles, 
poor in goods, but with unlimited capacity for hard work, have 
taken up these less attractive lands. It is interesting to note 
the southern projecting peninsula of Polish settlement in the 
centre of the county, corresponding to the isolated moraine 
ridge running north and south between broader belts of the 
Bancroft loam. The termination of the Polish area on the 
east may be accounted for in two ways. Says the Report of 
the Natural History and Geological Survey, “Steep ridges and 
hills are less common along the east border of Portage County.” 
Here the land is more gently rolling and more easily culti¬ 
vated, and in consequence it was held at a higher price. In 
the second place, this region was already occupied by a Nor¬ 
wegian community before Polish settlement had extended so far 
eastward. 20 

It is an important fact in the economical development cf 
Portage County that the Amherst loam, which the Poles have 
occupied, is a better soil than the Bancroft loam. The Poles 
are already buying farms in the more level regions, paying for 
them prices which the American farmers cannot afford to refuse. 
Throughout its greatest extent the terminal moraine is wooded 
with a dense growth of scrub oak. In the extreme northern 

20 Norwegians began to take up government land near Scandinavia, 
Waupaca County, in 1850 and 1851. This land had been ceded by a 
treaty with the Indians in 1848. Some of the Norwegians came from 
Dodge County and others from the mother country. They settled 
westward in Portage County between 1860 and 1870. 

[ 278 ] 



Portage County Poles 

part of the county is found a still heavier growth of hardwoods 
and pine. Here the Poles bought cheap cut-over lands. Be¬ 
cause of the distance from towns and railroads, and the poor 
wagon roads leading thereto, the Poles of this region are iso¬ 
lated and backward. 

The second soil area occupied by the Poles is that of the Wis¬ 
consin Biver sand. This is the poorest soil in the county, con¬ 
taining but small amounts of clay and loam. Here land was 
cheap. Horth of Stevens Point on the east side of the Wis¬ 
consin Biver, the land bore some timber of size, but south of 
the city in the town of Plover w T as the region of jack pine. 
Mention has already been made of the ease with which the 
Poles acquired this land and the way in which they have made 
good farms therefrom. 

The third soil area in which the Poles have made their 
farms is that of the Marathon loam. This had originally “a 
dense growth of hardwoods and hemlock, with scattering large 
white pine.” The soil is “one of the most fertile soils of the 
state;” but the land was cheap because it was held by lumber 
companies who had already stripped off the timber, and also 
because the heavy stumpage rendered its clearing a most dif¬ 
ficult task. Here again the Polish farmer showed his capacity 
for patient toil. 

We may conclude, therefore, that soil, topography, and forest 
areas have together influenced the direction of the Polish set¬ 
tlement, and that this has tended to the regions of cheapest 
land. These lands were cheapest in two instances because of 
the initial difficulty of cultivation, though they are in reality 
superior in quality. 

The Polish farmer possesses the qualities necessary to enter 
upon the cultivation of difficult lands. We have already noted 
his persistent industry and capacity for drudgery. Coupled 
with this, he possesses great thrift and is willing when neces¬ 
sary to endure an extremely low standard of living. It is a 
common saying that the Polish farmer lives upon the products 
that he cannot sell in the market—an unjust generalization, 
though the statement may be true in many instances, when this 

[279] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

becomes necessary in order to secure a margin of profit. 
Among the prosperous Polish farmers, however, the standard 
of comfort is similar to that enjoyed by other nationalities. 
There is another fact which enables these farmers to thrive un¬ 
der adverse conditions; the hard labor is shared by all mem¬ 
bers of the family w T ho are old enough to be of any assistance. 
While the farm is being cleared and paid for, the wife works 
by the side of the husband in the field, and children are kept 
from school in order that they may assist in this labor. 

All authorities agree that the Polish farmer has opened to 
cultivation areas that would not have been touched by other 
nationalities; and that he thrives and advances from poverty to 
prosperity upon lands where American farmers would starve. 21 
It is not surprising that he can buy out his neighbors of other 
nationalities. This process has been under way for some time. 
The Norwegian settlement in the northeastern tow r n of 
Portage County (Alban) at one time extended into the town¬ 
ship of Sharon immediately west thereof; but the Poles have 
bought out these Norwegian farmers and are still pushing east¬ 
ward. The high birth-rate among the Poles and the desire of 
the majority of the Polish young men to own land, renders 
certain the continuance of this process. 22 Moreover, the Poles 
display good business foresight in purchasing farms, very fre¬ 
quently giving a mortgage which they almost uniformly redeem. 

We have here an interesting instance of a stock possessing 
lower standards and greater industrial efficiency displacing 
other stocks who are unwilling to pay the price necessary to ob¬ 
tain equal results. There is undoubtedly a tendency on the 
part of the Poles to adopt higher standards, but this fact does 

21 Professor R. A. Moore of the State University writes concerning 
Polish farmers in Kewaunee County: “They have converted a wilder¬ 
ness of land, that I thought at one time would never amount to any¬ 
thing, into some of the finest farms in the county.” 

22 One Polish farmer stated to the writer his estimate that these 
families have on the average four boys each, and that two of the four 
remain farmers. It is frequently predicted that, agriculturally, Port¬ 
age County is destined to become Polish. 

[380] 



Portage County Poles 


not as yet seem to render them less able to supersede their 
neighbors. 

Another strong influence besides the purely economic one 
works in the same direction. This is social in nature. The 
concentration of Polish farmers in parts of Portage County is 
evidence of a clannish spirit, which is more marked in this than 
in other nationalities. The Polish ward of Stevens Point gives 
evidence of the same spirit. This is also seen in the fact that 
intermarriage between Poles and other nationalities is quite 
uncommon. 23 The separateness of the Polish people is like¬ 
wise marked in their failure to mingle socially with people of 
other nationalities. They show little desire for this kind of 
intercourse. The feeling of their non-Polish neighbors also 
acts as a barrier to the free and natural mingling of these 
classes upon an equal social basis. This fact stands in strong 
contrast to the freedom with which the German, Irish, Norwe¬ 
gian, and English intermingle and intermarry. When asked 
why this difference exists, the non-Polish farmer answers, “The 
Poles are different from the rest of us,” or, “They are an in¬ 
ferior class of people;” or, again, “We have nothing against the 
Poles, but we do not like them.” While there seems to be lit¬ 
tle reluctance to conduct business with the Poles, there exists 
little social sympathy on either side. As a result of these con¬ 
ditions, non-Polish farmers are more willing to sell out to the 
Poles when they become numerous in their neighborhood. 
Farmers, likewise, who have no Polish neighbors within sev¬ 
eral miles, look forward to the time when they expect to sell 
out, and retire to the cities, or go West. 

Because of this clannish spirit, also, the process of Ameri¬ 
canization among the Poles is slow. The national feeling is 
strong and it is fostered by their church. The Poles are noted 

23 There were issued by the county clerk, from November 1, 1906, to 
November 1, 1907, two hundred marriage licenses; of these, ninety-five 
were issued to parties both of whom were Polish. In eight cases the 
man only and in six cases the woman only was Polish. In seven 
instances the woman was under eighteen years of age, and in two cases 
the man was under twenty-one years old. 

[ 281 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 


for their faithful adherence to the Roman Catholic church, 
and the history of their spread in Portage County indicates the 
remarkable activity of the church in caring for their needs. 
The church does not encourage the social intermingling of 

KALENDARZ 

Polski katoliciri 

DLA LUDU POLSKIEGO 


WAMERYCK 


Na rok Panski 

1875 

CENA EGZEMPLARZA 25 CENT 


Polonia 

Potege Co Wiskonsin w Sunah Z>ednoczonycb Potoocn«) Amcryht 
N&kladem 1 czcionkami X-J.Dabrowskifigo. 


Reduced facsimile of title-page of a church calendar, the type for which 
was set by Father Dabrowski at Polonia, in 1875; 
see ante, p. 266 


Poles with non-Poles, and it discourages their intermarriage. 
Adherence to the use of the Polish language is another evi¬ 
dence of racial conservatism, and this also is encouraged by the 
church. The parochial schools constitute a force working in 
the same direction. In the country parishes but a small por¬ 
tion of the time in school hours is given to studies involving 
the use of the English language; but in the parochial school 
[ 282 ] 



Polish Church at Polonia, Portage County 

This is the largest church in Wisconsin, north of Milwaukee. Courtesy 
of the Stevens Point Gazette 

















































% 















< 


* 








































I 







I 















ft 




I 



























♦ 
































































































V 






* 


Portage County Poles 

in Stevens Point, English is employed to a great extent. 24 In 
the city the Polish language is going out of use much faster 
than in the country. It is a common statement that the lan¬ 
guage is being corrupted, and that no one, not even the priests, 
can speak pure Polish. A recent arrival from Warsaw, who 
is a university graduate, makes this statement emphatically. 
In some of the remote country parishes, however, children are 
growing up without the ability to speak the English language. 
It is a common occurrence to have adults horn in this country, 
who are testifying in court, ask for an interpreter. On the 
other hand, there are numbers of Polish children in Stevens 
Point who cannot speak Polish; sometimes the latter are 
ashamed to be known as Poles among their playmates in the 
public schools, and so purposely avoid learning the language of 
their forefathers. 2 ® 

An American tendency which is frowned upon by some of 
the Polish priests is that of altering surnames to make them 
more easy of pronunciation. 26 Generally, the owner of an 
Americanized name continues to be known by his original sur¬ 
name among his fellow countrymen. 

In 1892, Mr. S. Hutter established in Stevens Point, a 
weekly newspaper the Rolnih. This has had an important edu¬ 
cative influence and has tended to preserve the distinct national 
traits of the Poles. This paper has now a total circulation 

24 in the parochial school at Polonia, Polish is used in teaching the 
following subjects: geography, history of Poland, reading, catechism, 
arithmetic, composition, writing, and drawing. English is used in 
reading, writing, and geography classes. In the city the course of 
study is the same as that in the public schools. 

25 As German children dislike being called “Dutchman,” so Polish 
children are tormented by the use of the word “Polack” or “Polander.” 
The latter word has come to have a peculiar accent, “Po' -land' -er,” 
which carries with it insinuation of disrespect, implying social infer¬ 
iority. The word is, however, in good usage; but one avoids employ¬ 
ing it in polite conversation with intelligent Poles. 

26 instances of this are, Ciesiolka = Sanky and Sobieszczyk = Sim¬ 
mers. Often the ending ski is dropped, or the original name is other¬ 
wise abbreviated. 

19 


[ 283 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

of 5,000; in Portage County alone its circulation is 1,800, 
while it has many subscribers in other parts of Wisconsin, in 
Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Michigan. The Gazette, an Eng¬ 
lish Democratic paper, has three hundred Polish names on its 
subscription list. 

The Poles of this county do not, on the whole, take as much 
interest in education as is taken by other nationalities. Even 
making allowance for their support of parochial schools, the 
attendance of Polish children in the public schools is deficient. 
Enough has already been said to indicate that there is a real 
child-labor problem on the farms of the Polish people of Port¬ 
age County, with all that implies on the intellectual side. 
However, conditions are improving among the more prosperous 
farmers of the new generation. In the city many Polish chil¬ 
dren are set to work at an early age in factories. In higher 
education, likewise, there is but little interest. 27 The number 
of Polish students in the Stevens Point high school is small; 
the number in the State Normal School is still smaller. Dur¬ 
ing the past four years, no Polish child has gone as far as the 
seventh or eighth grade in the graded school at Plover. Polish 
children are as bright as those of other nationalities in their 
studies. There are ordinarily from three to six Polish girls 
w T ho are district school teachers in the county. In some of 
the country schools pupils cannot speak English, and it is with 
the greatest difficulty that an English-speaking teacher accom¬ 
plishes anything. A teacher who can speak Polish teaches 
these children more English than one who cannot. 

As might be expected, the Polish farmer is not in close touch 
with recent progressive agricultural methods. The few of this 
nationality who attend farmers’ institutes are the younger men, 
but this fact is suggestive of future improvement. The 

27 There was established at Stevens Point, in 1904, an academy for 
girls who intend to become sisters in the Catholic Church. The 
courses here are intended to fit them to become teachers in Catholic 
institutions. A number of Polish girls have attended the grammar 
grades of the Normal School in preparation for their work in the 
academy. The latter institution now has fifty pupils. 

[284] 




















































H i 

' 






























































































































































































































Portage County Poles 

question arises, do the Poles have lower moral standards than 
other nationalities ? They have everywhere a reputation for 
petty thievery. In the lower courts they are charged most 
frequently with this offense and with assault and battery. 
Drunkenness is usually the condition under which the latter of¬ 
fense is committed. In the justice courts of Stevens Point, 
and the municipal court of Portage County, fully one-half of 
the criminal cases involve Poles. In the circuit court, during 
the six years 1902 to 1907, inclusive, sixty-seven criminal cases 
were tried against the Poles, sixtv-nine against non-Poles. 
These figures indicate a greater number of criminal charges 
against the Poles than their proportion of the population would 
warrant; but allowance must be made for the fact that the poor 
and the illiterate, who everywhere furnish the largest number 
of criminals, are especially numerous among the Poles. On 
the other hand, among the non-Polish defendants in the circuit 
court were several persons who were non-residents of the 
county. It is the opinion of many observers that the first gen¬ 
eration of Poles born in this country furnish a much larger 
proportion of offenders than the original immigrants. The 
greatest enemy of the Poles is strong drink. It involves enor¬ 
mous economic waste. Among the younger generation, this 
fault is decidedly more common than among their fathers. 

In politics the Poles of this county are uniformly Demo¬ 
crats. By some this is attributed to their church allegiance, 
by others to imitation, the early settlers having adopted that 
party. In recent presidential elections, however, many Poles 
have voted the Republican ticket, some of them doing so 
secretly. Good times accounts for this change. Efforts to 
hold the Poles to their Democratic allegiance include the circu¬ 
lation of the stories that the Republicans are opposed to their 
church schools and that they would prohibit the use of the 
Polish language in all schools. In past years, the Polish voter 
has been corrupted with great ease, and in many cases he has 
invited corruption. With stricter laws and more settled con¬ 
ditions, this evil has become less common. The influence of 
the Polish priest in politics was formerly considerable, espec- 

[ 285 ] 


Wisconsin Historical Society 

ially in the country districts, and traces of it are still found. 
In the city, however, such influence has disappeared. 

The town of Sharon, in which the original Polish settlement 
was located, was organized in 1860. In 1867 the first Pole 
was elected to a town office. Since that date, Poles have had 
representatives on the list of town officers continuously; not, 
however, in proportion to their numbers. The same is true of 
other towns containing a contingent of this nationality. Polish 
officers are notable for their strict obedience to the laws defin¬ 
ing their powers. As members of school boards they fulfill 
their duties on the whole as well as non-Polish officers. There 
is no tendency among the Poles to combine in political action 
against other nationalities. While they act harmoniously with 
non-Poles, the same cannot he said of their relations to each 
other. In business, politics, and social affairs quarrels among 
Poles are very frequent. 

In their business relations the Poles show some tendency to 
favor their own nationality where that is possible. Distinct 
Polish corporations have been formed as follows: 

Stevens Point Brick & Construction Company; Stevens Point 
Brewing Company; Stevens Point Automatic Cradle Com¬ 
pany; Portage County Polish Pire Insurance Company; 
Sharon Creamery Company; and Lake Thomas Creamery 
Company. 

In Stevens Point much business property is passing into 
the hands of Poles. However, not more than five of the one 
hundred and seventy-five members of the Business Men’s As¬ 
sociation are Poles. 

With their gradual Americanization come changes in the old- 
world customs of the Poles. Customs associated with mar¬ 
riage are still retained to a considerable extent. The bride 
must furnish an elaborate feast, which often lasts several days 
and includes all the liquor than can be drunk. She is compen¬ 
sated by the payment of a dollar by every man who dances with 
her. Each silver dollar is thrown violently upon the plate in 
an effort to break it. The taking of snuff is common among 


[286] 

3477-61 

Lot«19 


Portage County Poles 

the older Poles. 28 The saloon retains its former place as a 
social institution, women using it as freely as men in the 
country districts, and upon their visits to town. The white 
kerchief as the sole head-covering for women is disappearing in 
favor of the hat. 

The Poles have two market days at Stevens Point, Thurs¬ 
day and Saturday. Ho satisfactory explanation for the use of 
the former day has been discovered. The farmers gather in 
large numbers in the market square and patiently await the 
sale of their produce. In the mean time saloons are the only 
available places of resort for the women and children. 

Church holidays are more frequent among the Poles than 
among other nationalities; dances and similar festivi¬ 
ties are much enjoyed. There are, also, numerous social 
and beneficiary societies organized in connection with the 
church. This great institution has among the Poles a restrain¬ 
ing and civilizing influence of enormous value. In the process 
of Americanization, however, its influence is conservative. 
Among the city population, and with the younger Poles every¬ 
where, its authority is becoming weaker; and the priests wisely 
tend to become in their parishes leaders rather than autocrats. 

In their physical characteristics the Poles have no marks that 
are so distinctive as those of the Germans, Scandinavians, or 
Irish. The type is recognized among the older people more 
by the stolid, apathetic countenance of the European peasant 
than in any other way. The influence of environment works 
noticeable changes in this type, by brightening the counte¬ 
nances and making more regular the features of the younger 
generation. 

Comparison between the economic condition of the ten 
thousand Poles in Portage County and that of the average 
city Poles must convince one that the advantage is in favor of 
the former. 29 Ho movement could result in greater good for 
___ • 

28 Among the items, a few years ago, of a candidate’s sworn cam¬ 
paign expenses, appeared several dollars spent for snuff. 

29 For some conditions existing in Milwaukee see Wisconsin Bureau 
of Labor Report, 1905-06. 


[ 287 ] 



jjS 

Wisconsin Historical Society 

the poorer classes in the cities than one encouraging their re¬ 
moval to the country. Such a movement is in progress, on an 
individual basis; but it would seem that some organization 
among the Poles themselves to advertise and stimulate it, would 
result in great benefit. 



























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Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 

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Treatment Date:.- - 



1998 


BBKKEEPER 


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PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, LP. 
111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 








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